SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a last minute plea to state legislators, the UDW Homecare Providers Union tonight urged a "No" vote on the state budget agreement reached earlier this week by Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders.

Branding the budget agreement "morally bankrupt," the 65,000-member UDW specifically targeted proposed cuts and other actions aimed at the In-Home Supportive Services homecare program:

• Cutting more than $210 million out of the IHSS budget.
• Throwing more than 40,000 people -- nearly 10 percent of all recipients -- out of the program and forcing some others to pay $200 a month more for homecare.
• Treating thousands of elderly, blind and disabled Californians like common criminals by requiring them to be fingerprinted. (Amputees are exempt from this requirement).
• Forcing homecare providers -- many of whom make little more than minimum wage -- to pay for their own background checks, while state workers and others who make far more money don't have to.
  

"It is outrageous that our state's so-called leaders would force these and other cuts on the poor, sick and disadvantaged, while allowing the oil companies corporations and the wealthiest Californians to avoid any responsibility," UDW Executive Director Doug Moore said. "It is inconceivable that our great state has fallen so low that the concept of shared sacrifice is just a cruel joke. Surely we can and we must do better. "

The 65,000 member UDW is the only union in California made up entirely of home care workers who care for low income elderly, blind and disabled citizens under California's In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. IHSS is designed to be a cost effective, more personal, alternative to nursing homes, which cost taxpayers at least six times more than home care.

    Contact: Steve Mehlman, Communications Director
    800-621-5016, 916-804-2569 (cell)

SOURCE UDW Homecare Providers Union